JD (U), RJD retaliate against Amit Shah's 'zero plus zero' comment

The Janata Dal (United) and Rashtriya Janata Dal on Tuesday retaliated against Bharatiya Janata Party president Amit Shah's remarks on the Janata Parivar merger, after the latter alleged that Bihar had descended into 'Jungle Raj' following Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's elevation to the top post.

Shah also taunted the parties involved by saying that 'zero plus zero equals zero'.

"Jungle Raj has come into the picture ever since their rule. We need no 'love-jihad' or speeches where leaders tell the public to produce more children. Was there any talk of 'haraamzaade-Ramzaade' or beef ban in our time?" JD (U) leader Sharad Yadav said.

"We have to compete with them [the BJP] in the elections, so they obviously will not praise us. The public will decide whether we are zero or they are," said JD (U) leader Sharad Yadav.

Meanwhile, RJD leader Manoj Jha said that he does not consider Shah to be a 'pure political man'.

"I never want to take Amit Shah's statements seriously because I don't consider him a pure political man.. . Draw two zeroes, as suggested by Amit Shah, and we become 100 percent," he said.

Earlier in the day, Shah took a dig at Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar on their merger for the Bihar elections in November.

"I want to tell Lalu ji. Zero plus zero is zero. No matter what alliance you form, nothing is going to happen," he had said.